Tanix TX5 Max Amlogic S905X2 Alice UX Android 8.1 4K TV Box Review

Tanix TX5 Max Amlogic S905X2 Alice UX TV Box Review

Today we have Tanix one of the the top rated TV box manufacturers releasing their latest product the Tanix TX5 Max Amlogic S905X2 Alice UX TV box. This is another box running on the Amlogic S905X2 CPU and the ARM Mali G31 GPU, but Tanix is doing it differently in this model. Unlike other models Tanix used their Alice UX user interface which delivers a really cool launcher and great optimization.

Hardware Specifications

IO Ports

1 HDMI

1 USB 2.0

1 USB 3.0

1 RJ45 Ethernet LAN

1 Optical Audio

1 Micro SD card reader

1 External antenna

Alice UX Interface

The Alice UX interface is what separates this box from the others. The Alice UX interface provides some great features like vertical main menu, recently used apps popup vertical bar, The ability to change the main buttons on the launcher, and multiple ways to add shortcuts. If you use the infrared remote to navigate the launcher you get a very nice animation and the menu button on the remote has some additional features that you cannot get with a PC mouse. However, if you have an air mouse with a menu button then you have all the features. When using an air mouse to navigate the launcher the animation is different. You now have mouse over feature and easier navigation of Alice UX.

Operating System Environment

The Tanix TX5 Max runs on Android 8.1 operating system. The OS is rooted which allows you install any app you like from the Google Play Store of side-load any app in APK format. The box comes with DRM Google Widevine level 3 and no HDCP encryption. This means that Netflix will play in standard quality, so say that means 480p, some say 720p. Without Google Widevine level 1 (LV1) and some from of HDCP encryption to prevent piracy Netflix cannot show in HD or 4K quality.

The Tanix TX5 Max comes with special apps like Airscreen which anyone can download from the Google play store, and gives you Miracast, Airplay, Google Cast and DNLA for casting mobile devices to your TV. It comes with TV center which is Kodi 17 build but you can uninstall that version and and install Kodi 18 directly from the Google Play store. The Kodi addons installer installs a few addons but you will have to install the best ones yourself. It comes with YouTube Android TV version that allows you to play YouTube videos in 4K quality.

Entertainment Features

Android TV boxes are all about entertainment you can watch movies, use social media apps, play personal video files, and play Android games. In my test of its entertainment features I started with Netflix. The version of Netflix that comes pre-install on the box works fine, however as indicated earlier due to the low level of Google Widevine Netflix only shows in standard quality. I played some 4K video samples of various formats and some played pretty well even the difficult jellyfish video at 400Mbps bit-rate. However some of the samples also had some difficulty. I played some Android games and the TX5 Max handled the gaming very well on the Mali G31 GPU that has been doing well so far for 2019.

Benchmarks

Antutu – 56105

Geekbench4 – 685 Single-Core 2002 Multi-core

3D Mark – Ice storm extreme – 4788

3D Mark – Sling Shot – 484

RAM Copy – 3493 MB/s

ROM Speed – 118 MB/s Read 67 MB/s write

WiFi Speed – Max speed on 2.4GHz / 5Ghz / LAN

Closing Thoughts

What could I say about Tanix TX5 Max, it’s another TV box built in the Amlogic S905X2 chip-set and it has good performance consistent with other boxes using this same chip-set. To say that it is better than other boxes in its class, I would say no, it’s got the same performance as its counterparts. What it has that’s different is its Alice UX interface that exclusive to the Tanix brand and delivers a better user experience that some of the boxes using the generic launchers. Alice UX, and the developers of A95X has the best launchers on the market. If I had to recommend some improvement I would say include a navigation bar and notifications bar into Alice UX.